Ridesharing service Lyft will begin tracking discriminatory practices from drivers. The San Francisco-based company will be monitoring driver behavior, ratings and cancellation rates in low-income and minority areas.

Lyft says it will fire any driver caught violating its anti-discrimination policy.

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"Lyft takes allegations of discrimination extremely seriously," the company said in a letter to Senator Al Franken. "Any discrepancy of service experienced by passengers due to race is unacceptable."

The measure was taken after an October study conducted by researchers from MIT, Stanford and the University of Washington found that drivers employed by services like Lyft and Uber were more likely to cancel reservations made by men with African American-sounding names. Senator Franken penned his concern in letters to both companies earlier this year.

He shared Lyft's response on Wednesday.

(3/4) I appreciate steps that Uber, Lyft have taken to address my concerns about discrimination against consumers. But I want further steps.

The study was conducted over a two-year period and found that some drivers displayed racist and sexist behavior.

"Peer transportation companies such as Uber and Lyft present the opportunity to rectify long-standing discrimination or worsen it. We sent passengers in Seattle, WA and Boston, MA to hail nearly 1,500 rides on controlled routes and recorded key performance metrics," the study said. "Results indicated a pattern of discrimination, which we observed in Seattle through longer waiting times for African American passengers."

Researchers found the following patterns:

- Uber drivers canceled the rides of passengers with African American-sounding names more frequently in Boston

- Rides for passengers with African American-sounding names were canceled twice s often as riders with white sounding names

- Male passengers requesting rides in less-populated areas were more than three times as likely to have their trips canceled when they used African American sounding names